A string of upsets last weekend brought a modest shakeup to the College Football Playoff rankings.
Ohio State jumped from No. 5 to No. 2, the biggest change in the selection committee’s latest rankings, announced Tuesday night.
The new rankings followed a chaotic Saturday on which three of last week’s top four teams — all previously unbeaten — were defeated.
Clemson fell from No. 2 to No. 4 after losing to Pittsburgh. Michigan remained No. 3 despite losing at Iowa. And Washington slipped from No. 4 to No. 6 after losing to USC.
There was no change at the top of the rankings, of course: Alabama, now 10-0 and the only undefeated team from the five power conferences, remains No. 1.
Behind Alabama, the next five teams in the rankings have one loss apiece: Ohio State, Michigan, Clemson, Louisville and Washington, ranked in that order. All have 9-1 records.
Louisville remained outside the top four at No. 5 because of its 42-36 loss at Clemson on Oct. 1. The Cardinals have won five consecutive ACC games since then.
Rounding out this week’s top 10 are four two-loss teams: No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 8 Penn State, No. 9 Oklahoma and No. 10 Colorado.
Ohio State climbed to No. 2 after winning its past two games by a cumulative margin of 124-6, beating both Nebraska and Maryland by 62-3 scores. The Buckeyes’ only loss was by three points at Penn State on Oct. 22.
Even if Ohio State (currently 6-1 in the Big Ten) defeats Michigan on Nov. 26, the Buckeyes won’t reach the Big Ten championship game unless Penn State (also 6-1 in the Big Ten) loses one of its final two regular-season games against Rutgers and Michigan State.
That ultimately could raise an interesting question for the selection committee, which would have to decide whether to put a team in the playoff that didn’t play for its conference title.
The 12-member committee will re-rank the teams each week through Dec. 4, when it will place the top four in the national semifinals, which this season will be played in Atlanta’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.
The rankings — especially the top four — are of particular interest to the Peach Bowl, which will host the biggest game in its 49-year history Dec. 31: a semifinal matching the Nos. 1 and 4 teams or the Nos. 2 and 3 teams.
If Alabama remains ranked No. 1 on Dec. 4, it would play in the Peach Bowl because the selection committee’s guidelines call for the top seed to generally be assigned to the semifinal nearest its campus.
As the rankings stand this week — and the lesson of last week is that the rankings don’t stay the same for long – Alabama would face Clemson in the Georgia Dome.
Alabama defeated Clemson 45-40 in last season’s national championship game and has won four national titles in the past seven seasons.
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